FITT Fostering Interregional Exchange in ICT Technology Transfer Entrepreneurial Bootcamp

2 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp iBootcamp: the essence  Set of focused workshops Goal: Create a team that can deliver a business presentation that can survive a professional investment board  Based on your own business idea No case studies here; we go for the real thing  Executed with a multidisciplinary team … that you need to recruit  Workshops are a combination of: Teaching Coaching Doing

3 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp What is this New Innovation Process? Ideas People Gate 1 Dating Event Entrepreneurial iBoot Camp Gate 2 Gate 3 JanMarchJune Internal Venture External Venture New Project Venture Launch To IBBT Innovation Board Connecting people and ideas Building Business Opportunity Plan

4 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Fit within the organisation

5 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Who is eligible to join iBootcamp?  Every collaborator from IBBT research projects with a great idea and with an entrepreneurial mindset  Idea owners are helped to form winning teams with multidisciplinary skills  iBoot Camp Teams are coached by industrial coaches, Board members and Business School Professors

6 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Dating Event: Connecting People and Idea Talented people everywhere but... they are not connected! Lara Donners will tell you more about the way to build a strong business team Research Engineering & Development Finance Marketing & Sales Operations

7 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp When? iBoot timeline: once a year Submit your idea by Mid January. Selected teams are notified by End of January. Deliver your team recruiting pitch beginning of February. On a residential location (to promote the bootcamp feeling) On a residential location (to promote the bootcamp feeling) 4 June Grand jury 26/27 March 23/24 April 12/13 March 10 Feb DatingWE 1WE 2WE 3 ©◊©◊ ©◊©◊ 4/5 March Team building 24 Feb Present team

8 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp (Residential) iBootcamp Program Weekend 1 (Friday + Saturday) How to develop a successful business plan Opportunity Development & Freedom to operate Weekend 2 (Friday + Saturday) Business Models in ICT Entrepreneurial Marketing Weekend 3 (Friday + Saturday) Entrepreneurial Finance Human Resources Presenting and Selling the Business Opportunity Plan to Venture Capitalists Elapsed time = 2 months

9 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Where? All workshops occur on a residential location to promote the bootcamp atmosphere. The first edition was organized in a Monasterium (converted to a hotel), the second edition in a Castel. On the first edition (iBoot2008) there was a possibility for the teams to sleep over, to promote the team building. This facility was however not repeated in the next editions, but teams are left free.

10 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Software tool by Inceptum ®

11 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Pro’s & Cons  Pro’s Strength: create a winning team that is able to make a business idea happen. Innovation: coaching by doing by coaching Right to copy: Generic format applicable in all kinds of business environments (except Inceptum tool that is licensed)  Cons Problems: risk of rising expectations too high potential problems: ability to find the complementary skills to form a team Advice: take time to find the right team members around an idea

12 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Why ? Rationale iBootcamp  Context: mission of IBBT to create new business opportunities  ‘problem’ solver: real life approach starting from the main assets = people and (good) ideas -> quickly identify hidden skills and expertise among iBootcamp participants in domains such as communication, presentation, entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, business acumen,...  The main bottleneck in a research organisation is not to find good ideas and competent (technological) people, but to find the lacking complementary skills available outside the organisation. With iBootcamp one creates the ideal platform to match those skills around a specific idea with great potential. Doing this you cover entrepreneurial awareness building, you identify business opportunities within the eco- system and you help to kick off new business.

13 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Why ? Impact iBootcamp  Evidence of success: most teams (8 of 10) convinced a professional venture board of their potential. Of the 10 teams so far ( ) two have already started doing business, 5 have been accepted for further incubation, only 2 did not succeed.  Recommendation: strong format for quickly assessing real business opportunity and at the same time building a business team of skilled and motivated people  Impact on future performance: iBootcamp creates a lot of awareness of business opportunities lying within the eco-system of the organisation, it motivates skilled people to invest free time in developing ‘their’ idea and it creates a good deal flow of well prepared investment opportunities for internal or external VC money or at least for further incubation.

14 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Outcome of iBootcamp: today  Learning effect:  ideas and teams of second bootcamp were stronger and better  Steep learning curve within teams  Strong marketing effect on IBBT profile as an organisation able to support new business development, making the transition form idea generation to commercialisation  During second bootcamp there was a joined team that attended the Alcatel-Lucent bootcamp = open innovation extended to similar activities of business partners

15 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Outcome of iBootcamp: plans for the future  3th edition of iBootcamp (2010) will pay more attention to the team building, coaching for marketing of the business ideas and feedback to the teams (through dry runs) before the exposure to the final jury.  Feedback shortly after the final jury and follow up are also point of attention  Flemish feasibility study to establish a Flemish incubation center providing these kind of bootcamps for the Flemish industry  Find extra financial resources for follow-up of successful teams (through Proof of Concept funds, pre seed investment funds)

16 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Lessons Learned  Looking back now, what would you … … do different/improve? Pay more attention to the team building after the dating event and have the coaches better prepared before the start of the workshops … improve? Better use of software tool by teams … recommend to others? Just do it (learning by doing)

17 | Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Suggested Readings  Link to bibliography  Link to code book  Training  Entrepreneurship  Incubation  Link to related websites 